After a long, bitter fight between graduate students and the Harvard University administration, the Ivy League institution is finally allowing students to vote on whether they want to be represented by a union in future negotiations regarding graduate student pay, teaching contracts, and healthcare.
A second campus wide vote taking place this week will determine whether or not graduate students will be represented by the United Auto Workers union in contract negotiations for the upcoming school year.
The election to determine union representation among graduate students will be the second time in two years that Harvard has allowed such an election. The first election, held in November 2016, initially found that a majority of students voted against allowing the United Auto Workers to oversee collective bargaining on behalf of Harvard’s graduate students. However, that result was challenged in court by students after it was discovered that Harvard had unfairly excluded eligible students from voting, and the National Labor Relations Board subsequently ordered a new election be held.
While the allure of getting more benefits for free is likely the main reason driving the push for unionization of graduate students, many individuals are not fully aware of the implications of turning labor negotiation rights over to a national labor organization such as the United Auto Workers. In recent years, universities that have previously agreed to unionize their graduate students have documented numerous bad experiences due to union rules and regulations regarding their graduate student members.
Examples of unfair actions by a graduate school union have included the union stymieing efforts to appoint qualified students to serve as adjunct professors, as well as labeling graduate students who formerly were serving as adjuncts as “teaching assistants.” Additionally, because unions are designed to serve their members first, there have also been reports of unions forcing schools to hire individuals who graduated from their specific university, rather than hire outside talent who may be more qualified.
